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Mark 2 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. Mark Chapter 2 kicks off with an
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  absolutely wild scene. Jesus is back in Capernaum in a
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  house, speaking the Word to those gathered.
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  The crowd has gotten so large that there was no room, not even
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  near the door. Well, the same time four men
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  came to Jesus carrying a fifth man who was paralyzed and lying
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  on a pallet because they could not get to see Jesus the
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  traditional way through the front door.
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  These men had to improvise, so they climbed up to the roof with
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  the pallet, dug a hole in the roof, and lowered the paralytic
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  man down to Jesus. Can you imagine being one of
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  those standing in the house and listening to Jesus teaching?
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  Jesus, seeing the faith of these men, spoke to the man who was
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  paralyzed and told him, Son, your sins are forgiven.
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  But among the crowd there were some scribes who were thinking
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  to themselves that this had to be blasphemy.
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  Only God can forgive sins. Jesus, who knew exactly what
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  they were thinking, spoke to the scribes directly.
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  He said, why are you reasoning about these things in your
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  heart, which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are
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  forgiven, or to say get up and pick up your pallet and walk?
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  The answer to this rhetorical question is obvious.
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  It's much easier to say to someone that their sins are
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  forgiven because it cannot be tested or proven false in the
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  moment. The more difficult thing to say
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  would be get up and pick up your pallet and walk, because in that
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  moment a real paralytic will either stand up and walk or will
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  prove that Jesus is just another Jewish rabbi on a power trip.
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  Now listen to what Jesus says next, but so that you may know
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  that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
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  sins. And now he turned to the
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  paralytic and said, I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet
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  and go home. And just like that, this
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  paralytic lowered into the house by 4 men who dug a hole in the
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  roof, stood up and immediately picked up his pallet and left.
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  What a miracle. But don't miss the main point.
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  Jesus makes clear the why of this healing.
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  He told the scribes, so that you may know, that the Son of Man
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  has authority on earth to forgive sins.
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  This miraculous healing was more than just a physical healing.
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  When he told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, he meant
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  it. And with this physical healing,
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  he was demonstrating to the paralytic, to the scribes, to
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  the crowd, and to us as readers that his offer of forgiveness
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  was no mere gesture of empty words.
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  He, the one with the power and authority to heal a paralyzed
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  man, has the power and authority to forgive him of his sins.
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  This miracle of healing was pointing to an even greater
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  miracle, the miracle of sinful man being forgiven by the holy,
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  holy, holy God. And that paralytic left not just
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  with limbs that could move and function, but with a soul made
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  clean by the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.